Jamaica is the popular celebrity holiday destination that’s just perfect for teenagers

“IT’S Kendall Jenner!” As we drive up a rutted track to Jamaica’s Island Gully Falls, this frenzied claim seems unlikely.

Squeezing past an oncoming truck, I barely noticed the two girls stood at the side of the road.

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But my daughter is on her feet and ripping open our van door before you can say “Kardashians”.

Phone in hand, she begs for a selfie . . .  but is given the brush-off.

Knowing how much it means to my Insta-obsessed teen, I plead with her blonde pal: “Oh come on, it would make her year if we could get a picture with Kendall.”

“We don’t want anyone to know we are here,” comes the icy reply.

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Only after we dejectedly clamber back on board does it occur to us her pal is Justin Bieber’s wife Hailey Baldwin.

We are still puzzling over why two of the most famous celebrities on the planet would be on the dirt track as we put on water shoes for our ascent of the falls.

Minutes later, our questions are answered when the bikini-clad pair pass us splashing among the rushing waters.

While tourists make a bee-line for Jamaica’s hugely popular Dunn’s River Falls, locals congregate at Island Gully — the perfect place for two American supermodels to enjoy the delights without being bothered. Unfortunately for them, they were wandering past a group of British journalists and their teens, in Jamaica to discover what this Caribbean favourite has to offer families with older kids. Their secret was out.

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But we are not star-struck for long. The beauty of the falls — and the crazy antics of the locals diving headfirst into the clear waters from insane heights — soon have us in their thrall.

And not even a celebrity can get your average teen as excited as the chance to drive a high-powered machine, fast, through miles of mud.

At the Yaaman Adventure Park near Ocho Rios on Jamaica’s northern coast, they can do exactly that. The boys opted for quad bikes, while my daughter Abbi and I took the wheel of mud buggies for a high-speed, filthy ride through dense forests and mountain trails.

The teens loved splashing through the mud, ensuring their mothers were as splattered as possible.

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The park has plenty of other delights, from an aviary of colourful tropical birds you can hand-feed to a secret river where we got the chance to wash off that quick-drying mud.

At Mystic Mountain, the fun begins with a vertigo-inducing chair-lift ride, hundreds of feet above the jungle floor and with jaw-dropping views of Ocho Rios and the Caribbean Sea.

Up top, there is a host of different options for teens keen on terrifying the wits out of their mums, including zip lines and the utterly bonkers bobsled run.

The attraction is inspired by the Jamaican bobsled team that made it all the way to the 1988 Winter Olympics, as immortalised in the film Cool Runnings.

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Clambering aboard either a twin or single sled, you will career down the mountain track with only a handbrake to control your speed.

Back up top, there was a chance for us adults to get our breath back at the restaurant and bar while the teens had fun cooling off in the infinity pool with slide.

We stop for lunch at Ocho Rios institution Mrs T’s Kitchen, famed for its authentic Caribbean food and colourful surroundings. While getting the teens to try her signature goat curry was a push, everyone was digging into the incredible jerk chicken, rice and peas when Abbi let out another scream.

“Oh my God, it’s Beenie Man!”

Abbi’s star-spotting radar had gone off again — and she was right. Enjoying a laid-back meal in the restaurant was the reggae and dance-hall star.

This time, Abbi was able to charm her way to a selfie with the third major celebrity we spotted in two days. More than ready for some downtime, our base for the trip — the 5-star Moon Palace Resort in Ocho Rios — was ideal.

Set on the largest private beach in Jamaica, it offers high-end all-inclusive fun. There is a vast buffet as well as three speciality restaurants serving fresh fish and Italian and Pan-Asian food, plus a chic coffee shop, four bars and two swim-up bars.

The kids get a resort within the resort featuring a pool, huge outdoor play area and kids’ clubs with a big soft-play.

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For the teens, there was a dedicated hangout teeming with arcade games and their own bar. They can even learn to surf on the FlowRider simulator. The next morning saw us back together and united by Bob Marley as we discovered the reggae legend’s life and work in the capital, Kingston.

First stop was the Tuff Gong studios for a tour of the rehearsal room where everyone from Marley to, yes, Beenie Man has recorded.

Then it was on to Culture Yard in Trench Town, formerly the famous “government yard in Trenchtown”, the ghetto in Kingston where Bob grew up and which was immortalised in the lyrics of No Woman No Cry and Trenchtown Rock.

Our final stop was at the city’s Bob Marley Museum, located in his former home and offering a great insight into the man and his music. With temperatures soaring, we cooled down with an ice cream at the award-winning I-Scream parlour in the grounds of Devon House mansion.

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The house was built in 1881 by Jamaica’s first black millionaire, George Stiebel, who made his money mining gold in South America.

There are hundreds of fabulous flavours to choose from, including their unique tropical guava.

Rounding off our trip with a feast at Olympic legend Usain Bolt’s Tracks &; Records restaurant, the teens all agreed that while spotting celebrities is cool, Jamaica itself is the real star turn.

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